Internal-combustion engine



C. F. JEFFRIES.

LNTERNAL comsusnon ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, I9I7- Patented May 18, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

C- F. JEFFRIES.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 15, 1917.

Patented May 18, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

C. F. JEFFRIES.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY I4, 1917.

1,340,229, PatentedflMay 18, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

STRO/{i 1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CARL F. JEFFRIES, 0F DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

INTERN AL-COMBUSTION' ENGINE.

Specification sf Letters Patent? Application filed May 14, 1917. Serial No. 168,358-- I clear, and exact description of the same,

suchas will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification. 4 q

My invention relates to an improvement in internal combustion engines shownin the accompanying drawings and more particularly described in the following specifications and claims.

As is well known in the art, the operations of a four cycle internal combustion engine consist of the induction, stroke, compression stroke, expansion stroke and the A exhaust stroke. -In the present invention all of these operations are performed in the regular conventional manner, the eificiency of the engine, however, being greatly increased by one or more added operations which will be hereafter more fully explained. At the end of each inward or outward stroke of the piston in a four cycle engine there is known to be a dwell of the piston. At the end of each inward stroke of the cycle the efficiency of the engine may be greatly increased by introducing air directly from some form of-blower operated by-the engine at a speed proportional therewith, and in the present invention the cylinders are provided with ports arranged-to be uncovered by'the pistons at the inner end of the stroke to introduce compressed air into the cylinders to increase the inflammabilityof the mixture and also to scavenge the cylinders.

One of the objects, therefore, of the present invention is to increase the efliciency of the conventional four cycle engine with re- 7 gard to power output per given piston displacement and fuel consumption per horse power, and to .give increased acceleration when under'load, and to provide means for cooling certain parts of the engine when operating under the excessive heats imposed by high duty work.

Another feature of this invention is the increased power output due to the relatively larger volume of inflammable mixture delivered to the cylinder at the beginning of lchigan,

the compression stroke ;the fuel consumed per horse-power being decreased due to the introduction of an excess of oxygen. (air) into the bottom of the cylinder adjacent to the carbureted charge taken in through the conventional induction pipe; thereby causing a complete combustion of the hydro-carbon gases within the cylinder,a large proportion of which would otherwise burn slowly and form carbon mon-oxid;"which form of combustion I practically eliminate at all throttle positions. Another cause of decreased fuel consumption in the present invention is that at the end of the exhaust stroke or at the beginning of the induction stroke the cylinder is filled with air to support combustion, and not with the burned gases left from the previous explosion as in the conventional four cycle motor.

A further object is to automatically provide the proper fuel-air ratio within the cylinder where needed, and at other times allowing for the required leanness to give the best power with economy of fuel.

It is a well known fact that certain parts Patented May 18, 1920.

of an internal combustion engine become I ticularly when the motor is delivering its highest power,.as, for example, the exhaust valve and its adjacent parts; the piston head, and bearings of the crank shaft. And while one object of this invention is to create more power and heat within the cylinder, provision is at the same time made for dissipating this extra heat ;-the thermal efliciency of the motor, however, is not lowered thereby because the cooling air is applied directly to the internal parts which require cooling and they have little effect upon the general operative temperature of the motor; in fact, such application of a cooling medium allows the engine to operate at sustained high speeds without liability to failure of these important parts.

It is well understood that a richer fuel mixture is required when a sudden opening of the throttle is incurred through increased load, and it is also well known that the average carbureter does not compensate for vide the proper tapering ofl' toward leanness as the motor picks up speed. And it is well understood that a motor running under light .load always requires "a leaner mixture for complete combustion than when operating under a heavy load. Therefore a this satisfactorily and at the same time proengine 1g.

' bustion engine further object of the invention is to provide for this difference 1n fuel-air ratio within the cylinder and automatically care for it" of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the 1nvent1on herein. disclosed can be made without de-' parting from the spirit of. the

same.

. In the drawings accompanying this speci-' fication and. forming part thereof Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through an internal combustion embodying my invention. 2 is a horizontal sectional view on line 22 of Fig. 1.

' Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional View on llne 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation with parts in section of a modification of my invention applied to an aeroplane motor. I Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view-indicating the chronological order of operations within the cylinder.

Referring now to the reference characters placed upon the drawings 2-- 1, denotes the cylinder of an internal com- 2, its piston; 3,, the connecting rod; 4, the crank shaft; 5, the crank case; 6, the valves of conventional construction. A, designates a blower driven by the motor. B, a bus pipe leading to and surroundin or partly surrounding the cylinders. 1%, are ports leading from the branches of thebus' pipe to the interior of the cylinder. D, indicates a wire gauze set the blower.

in the bus pipe between the cylinder ahd denotes a damper or butterfly valve in the bus pipe between the cylindersfand the blower. F, indicates a housing surrounding the blower and forming an outlet for same communicating with the bus pipe. G, denotes an inlet for the lilogver and oil retaining gauze I J, are air-vents providing communication between the crank v case and the blower case with an oil retaining gauze provided within the vents. In the modification shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings is indicated an aviation motor with a'propeller geared to thecrank shaft 4. .The blower A, is mounted on a sleeve K, carrying a gear L, driven by a gear M, from the crank shaft or its equivalent. The sleeve K, is mounted on the shaft N, of the pro eller N which is driven by gears O, and

', the centers of which are respectively the same as the gears L and M, the speed ratios however being different that the blower A, magv avlng indicated the several parts by reference charactersthe construction and operation of my invention will be readily understood. In an engine 0 erating upder the principle herein describe it is necessary to provide a third set of ports, valves, or other 'means of passing gases to and from a cylinder, and in the embodiment shown, which is considered preferable on account .of its simplicity of construction, an annular ring or segment is provided surrounding the cylinder with ports opening into the cylinder at approximately the end of the outward sweep of the piston. As the piston ears ther end of its induction stroke, air is delivered thyrough the third set of ports B, into the cylinder under pressure from the blower A, which unites and mingles with the overly rich hydro-carbon and air mixtures taken in on the regular induction stroke to form an explosive mixture. It is evident that as in the embodiment shown the third set of ports 13', are controlled by the sweep of the piston the cylinder will be exposed to the air from the blower at or soon after the beginning of the exhaust operation. It is here that another operation is introduced into the cycle making six distinct operations performed within the four strokes instead of only four as at present commonly known in the art. The exhaust valve is opened on the downward explosion stroke before the ports B, are uncovered, thereby lowering the explosive pressure to atmospheric pressure or thereabouts, before the cylinder is exposed to the 'air under pressure from the blower.

that of atmospheric pressure or belowrdue to the action of the conventional exhaust valve;-the ports B being opened-the blower forces air into the .cylinder which takes the place of "'the hot exhaust gases w, ich otherwise hang back and must be forced in by ,the blower-which is. now

pushed out through the exhaust valve by the piston during its re ular exhaust stroke, and being airjust taken rom the atmosphere and pushed out through the exhaust valve during 1 pushed past the exhaust valve .following the heated exhaust gases it has a pronounced cooling effect upon all parts of the valve and its seat. I

The blower speed is proportioned .to that of the engine and automatically takes care of the increased supply and pressure of provided in the bus pipe between the blower and cylinder for regulating the degree of opening through which air may be admitted into the cylinder until the engine becomes warm. It will be apparent that by my in vention the cylinder receives its charge at a higher absolute pressure ;a more positive burning charge is forced into the cylinder;particularly at high speeds,

while the induced hydro-carbon charge received into the cylinder has its undisplaced portion of volume filled with air, instead of the remnants of spent gas, left from the previous explosion, thus doing away with the waste of fuel which mingles with these dead gases. 5

In the caselof a long stroke motor it will be seen from the drawing that the lower end of the piston may partly or wholly uncover the air ports eachtime it reaches the innermost position within the cylinder. When the air ports are uncovered to let air in below the piston they permit a direct flow of air upon the bearings of the crank .shaft,cooling them. The cool fresh air settles in the bottom of the crank chamber and thus causes the. warm air and gases which have escaped past'the piston to rise and escape through the breather I, which is madeof ample ca acit'y and provided with conventional ba e plates and oil retaining gauze.

When the blower is built in connection with the fly-wheel as shown in the draw; ings, air vents from the crank case to the fan chamber may be provided to allow a portion of the air from the crank case to escape into the blower to be again circulated.

This increases the area of the blower inlet and warms the air discharged sufliciently to keep the. auxiliary air from causing any condensation of fuel within the cylinder at the time of .its admittance following the induction stroke. This is of importance when burnin the heavier grades of distillate for whic this invention is adapted.

When the air passes from the crank case into the blower housing, the *oil retaining gauze serves to hold back the oil mist however, if any oil vapor should pass through the fan it will serve to lubricate the cylinders again.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. In a four-cycle internal combustion engine a cylinder provided at the top with a fuel inlet and exhaust ports and having at a point intermediate of its ends air inlet ports controlled by'the sweep of the piston and arranged to be uncovered at the end of the down-stroke to admit air above the piston and at the endof the up-stroke to admit air below the piston to cool the crank shaft bearings, a blower, and means for delivering air from the said blower through the said inlet ports into the cylinder at the end of the induction stroke whereby the cylinder is supplied with air under pressure to increase the inflammable mixture delivered to the cylinder at the beginning of the in-- duction stroke.

2. In a four-cycle internal combustion engine a plurality of cylinders provided at the top with fuel inlet and exhaust ports and having air inlet'ports intermediate of their ends controlled by the sweep of their respective pistons and arranged to be uncovered at the end of the down-stroke to admit air above the pistons and at the end of the up-stroke to admit air below the pistons for cooling the crank shaft bearings, a blower, a bus-pipe for delivering air from the blower to the air inlet ports whereby the respective cylinders are. suppliedwith air under pressure to increase the inflammable mixture delivered to each cylinder at the beginning of the induction stroke and also to supply compressed air at the beginning of the exhaust stroke for causing the air to sweep through the cylinders and thoroughly scavenge the same.

3. In a four-cycle internal combustion engine a cylinder provided at the top with uel and exhaust ports and havin suitable valves for the same, said cylin er being provided intermediate of its ends with air inlet ports, a blower actuated by the engine for delivering air under pressure to the cylinder through the air inlet ports, and a piston adapted to open said air inlet ports at the end of the up-stroke to cause the air to cool the crank shaft bearings and also to admit air to the cylinder at the end of the down-stroke to increase the inflammable mixture at the end ofthe induction stroke and to again open the air inlet ports following the opening of the exhaust valve and been reduced to atmospheric pressure whereby a complete scavenging of the spent gases is effected.

4. In a four-cycle internal combustion engine a cylinder provided at one end with fuel inlet and exhaust valves and having air inlet ports arranged to be uncovered on the up-stroke of the piston to admit air below the same for cooling the crank shaft bearings, a blower and means for delivering air under pressure from the blower through the air inlet ports above the piston at the end of the down-strokes thereof to increase the inflammable mixture and to again deliver air to the cylinder following the opening of the exhaust valve whereby the air under pressure is caused to sweep through the cylinder andthoroughly scavenge the same and fill the cylinder with air from the blower.

5-. In an internal combustion engine, the combination with the cylinder, the piston, the crank case, fuel inlet and exhaust valves, and air inlet ports controlled by the piston; of a blower actuated by the engine, means for conducting air from the blower casing to the air inlet ports, and means for delivering air from the crank case to the blower casing to mingle-with the air received by the blower from the outside, whereby the air delivered to the cylinder may be warmed sufficiently to prevent condensation of the fuel within the cylinder.

6. In an internal combustionengine, a

cylinder having air inlet ports intermediate of its ends controlled by the piston, a crank case adapted to receive air from the inlet ports upon the reciprocation of the piston, whereby the crank shaft bearin s may be cooled, a blower actuated by t e engine, means for conducting air from the blower casing to the air inlet ports of the cylinder, and a screened port through which air may pass from the crank case to the blower housing, whereby oil may be separated from the I air, and the air delivered by the blower to the cylinder "may be warmed to prevent condensation of the fuel.

In testimony whereof, I sign this specification in the presence of two witnesses.

' CARL F. J EFFRIES. Witnesses:

S. E. THOMAS, JOHN CoNsInINE; Jr. 

